Most Wins in U.S. Women's Amateur Championship

The U.S. Women's Amateur Championship dates to 1895, and in that long history there are nine golfers who have won the tournament at least three times each. But the one who holds the record for most wins in the U.S. Women's Amateur had six victories.

Glenna Collett Vare is that record-holder, her six wins happening in the years 1922 through 1935. Five of those victories were from 1922-30. Then she got married (adding the "Vare" to her name), had two kids, and lost twice in the championship match before winning win her sixth title in 1935. In that last victory, Collett Vare defeated 17-year-old Patty Berg, who, 15 years later, became one of the 13 co-founders of the LPGA.

U.S. Women's Amateur Most-Frequent Winners

These are the nine golfers who won this trophy at least three times each (2-time winners are listed lower on the page):

• 6 wins — Glenna Collett Vare, 1922, 1925, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935
• 5 wins — JoAnne Gunderson Carner, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968
• 3 wins — Beatrix Hoyt, 1896, 1897, 1898
• 3 wins — Margaret Curtis, 1907, 1911, 1912
• 3 wins — Dorothy Campbell, 1909, 1910, 1924
• 3 wins — Alexa Stirling, 1916, 1919, 1920
• 3 wins — Virginia Van Wie, 1932, 1933, 1934
• 3 wins — Anne Quast Sander, 1958, 1961, 1963
• 3 wins — Juli Simpson Inkster, 1980, 1981, 1982

Collett Vare claimed this record in 1929, when she won her fourth championship. Hoyt, Curtis, Campbell and Stirling Fraser had won three titles each before Collett Vare.

"The Great Gundy" — JoAnne Gunderson, later known as "Big Mama" JoAnne Carner — probably would have caught and passed Collett Vare except that she decided to start making money. Carner turned 30 in 1969, won an LPGA Tour tournament that year playing as an amateur, and decided to turn pro. (Of course, the LPGA did not yet exist in Collett Vare's day.)

In addition to those already listed above, the following golfers, with two victories each, also posted multiple wins in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship:

• Genevieve Hecker, 1901, 1902
• Katherine Harley, 1908, 1914
• Betty Jameson, 1939, 1940
• Barbara McIntire, 1959, 1964
• Beth Daniel, 1975, 1977
• Kay Cockerill, 1986, 1987
• Vicki Goetze, 1989, 1992
• Kelli Kuehne, 1995, 1996
• Danielle Kang, 2010, 2011
• Kristen Gillman, 2014, 2018

Note that five golfers share the record for most consecutive victories: Beatrix Hoyt, Alexa Stirling, Glenna Collett Vare, Virginia Van Wie and Juli Inkster all won the tournament three years running. You might have noticed that Stirling is credited with three consecutive wins despite there being a gap between her first and second victories (her wins were in 1916, 1919 and 1920). The USWA was not played in 1917-18 due to World War I, so Stirling's 1916 and 1919 wins were, in fact, consecutive.

Collett Vare's record of six U.S. Women's Amateur victories probably belongs on any list of golf's most unbreakable records. Not because no golfer could do it, but because today, with pro tours and big money available, any golfer good enough to win this tournament multiple times will turn pro long before they have a chance to win it six times.

Related articles:

• All winners of the U.S. Women's Amateur
• Golfers who won both the U.S. Women's Amateur and Open
• Youngest, oldest winners of U.S. Women's Amateur

Sources:
USGA. U.S. Women's Amateur, U.S. Women's Amateur Records, https://championships.usga.org/uswomensamateur/u-s--women-s-amateur-records.html.